Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-08-17

have show III the cruss-examination, pro-
vided they put their queries N writing. But
for all this the inquiry was direct TO the
point, and the results of the day, if not Ssnss
tional, We're decidedly interesting
W. J. Clarke, a merchant of Piper City,
was the first of the long string of witnesses.
His place of business is near the track On
the night of the accident he crossed the track
sbout . O'Clock, and looking toward Chats
worth he saw what be thought was the head
light of an engine When he again crossed
the track an hour later the light was still
there This prompted him to make inqui
ries, and he found that the excursion train
was at that time on the other side of Forrest
The popularity of the light, which at one
time was very bright, and again very dull,
was commented upon by several people at
the station, and the opinion was expressed
that the section men were burning something
along the track The thought struck his mind
that the bridge might be burning, but he
never mentioned it to anybody. When a
couple of hours later the alarm had been
given aud ne went on foot to the scene Of the
wreck he found several of the railroad ties
between the culvert and Piper City were
either burning or smouldering. Some of
them had been burned clear under the track.
John S Maiden barber and the village
clerk of Piper City, said that the light was
plainly visible up to the time of his going to
bed at IL O'Clock. When on his way in re-
Spouse to the call for aid he saw fully dozen
ties on fire at various distances from each
other, some of them having burned through
clear in under the rails All the ties were in
the Chatsworth, or Coughlin's division By
the time he reached the SCENE he said, the
timhers of the bridge. except one of the
supports, had been completely burned.
W {. Jones, a merchant at Piper City,
gave some decidedly interesting testimony
IL WIS at the station, " he said, 'at Q O'Clock
and saw the light very plainly. The train
was due somewhere about 10 o'clock, and
thought at first it was the headlight of the
engine The agent of the railroad, MIR March,
was at prayer meeting, and upon his return
lcalled his attention to the matter After
stepping to the edge of the platform and hook
ing at the light for II while he said be would
go and find out if it was the train He went
to his office and presently came hack and re
ported that the train at Weston, about
twenty four miles distant and was forty
minutes late at that point Then somebody
| suggested that there must be fire down the
road, but nothing was said ahou1 going down
to investigate"
Further inquiries developed the fact that
there was band-car at Piper Station, and
| that the agent, after he had ascertained that
the excursion train was nowhere within half
| an hours ride of the locality where the fire
was burning, could have gone to the spot in
u very few minutes
| A T Dolph, a gray-haired, six-foot-and-
s-half, muscular and rugged specimen of a
central Illinois agriculturist, aud who was
the first witness examined when the inquiry
opened last Friday, was recalled and with
| the aid a chart of the ground located the
| exact spot where he saw the section hands
burning the grass at O'Clock in the evening
| This proved to lie exactly sixty rods from tbs
| cuIvert and fully bore out the evidence of
| other witnesses while it stood in direct con
| tradiction to the statement of Foreman
| Coughlin that no grass burning was done III
| the ueighburhuOd OF the bridge during the
day
| James Taggart, one of the section hands at
work on the day in question, was the next
| witness We were working at Cbatsworth
all the morning." he said, and after dinner
| we were ordered to take the haud-car, go
east of the bridge, and start fire. The sec
ton boss walked up four and half miles
| from Chatsworth We started fire and
worked back against the wind 1t wouldn't
burn, so we crossed over to the south side
| There were five of us besides the boss We
had burned all Of the ground between the
culvert and the county line ten days before.
but there were numerous patches right down
| to the bridge that had escaped the fire. lam
sure we fired the grass IT, within four or five
rods of the bridge was that close myself.
1t was slough grass All the stubble had
been previously burned up. The fire
ranged along on the edge of the
ditch about five feet west of the bridge in a
strip about twn or three feet wide and fifteen
feet long The fire was burning when we
left saw Coushiin get telegram ut Chats
worth Mt = O'clock but did not know what it
contained When we left at $40 p m. the
fire was smndering west of the bridge, and
it would blaze when dry grass was struck.
| am certain that as came home neither the
| foremen nor any of the hands stopped to ex-
antine the bridges My impression has been
| that the fire at the bridge was started by a
coal dropped by the roadmaster's engine when
it went over the road at p. m"
The next witness, james Head, another
section hand, did not think so, however, and
he said so very emphatically. He corrob.
GRATED the other witness in relation to the
close proximity of the grass fires to the
bridge, and then went on to say: II can't SEE
any other way that the bridge could have
burned except from the fire we left there
thought at the time that it was not right to
leave the fire in that condition. Only Cough
lin was on the car when it crossed the bridge,
and the statement that all the men were on
| it is not correct To my knowledge Coughlin
| did not examine the tracks west of Chats
worth after he received the telegram, nor, sc
| far as observed, was there any examination
of the entire roadbed to and past the bridge.
There were no more witnesses in attend.
ance when Head had been dismissed, and the
Jury held brief consultation The testi
mony of the day haa developed, first, that
Boss Coughlin's statement on oath to the con
| trary notwithstanding, fires had been Lighted
and grass burned close to the bridge late II
the day Second that he had failed TO OBEY
| his orders to make careful examination o
the road from one end of his section to thu
other, and third, that but for the obtuseness
or want of forethought on the part of tn
agent at Pipers, the nature of the fire NIGH
have been discovered, and the train stopped
at Chatsworth As Counselor Stevens, tn
legal representative of the company, re
marked: He might either have notified tn
agent at Chatsworth, or the engineer of TIN
train, that there was peculiar fire down tn
road, and that it would be well to he care
full. Had even this little care been takel
there would have been no accident"
| The State Commission Inquiry.
PEORIA, Ills, Aug. 1.-THE Illinois stat
railroad and warehouse eommiss toner's me-
here on Wednesday. The president of tn
beard, Hon. John Rinaker, presiding. TIL
object of the session was to carry on an off
cial inquiry into the disaster at Chatsworth
Il.